Stowing and launching of ships&#39; boats.



No. 650,471. Patented May 29, won. 0. a. MARTENS.

STOWING AND LAUNCHING 0F SHIPS BOATS.

(Application filed Dec. 30, 1899.) We Model.) 5 SheetsShee2 l.

No. 650,47l. Patented May 29, I900. n. a. MARTENS. STOWING AND LAUNCHING 0F SHIPS BOATS.

(Application filed Dec. 30, 1899.)

5 Sheets-Sheet 2,

(No Model.)

Patented May 29, I900. 11. a. MARTENS.

STOWING AND LAUNCHING 0F SHIPS BOATS.

No. 650,47l.

(Application filed Dec. 30, 1899.)

(No Model.)

Patented May 29, I900.

' D. G. MARTENS.

STOWING AND LAUNCHING 0F SHIPS BOATS.

(Application filed Dec. 30, 1899.)

' 5 SheetsSheet 4.

(No Model.)

No. 650,471. I Patented May 29, I900.

n. a. MARTENS.

STOWING AND LAUNCHING 0F SHIPS BOATS.

' (Application filed Dec. 80, 1899.) (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 5.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL cnoncn MARTENS, or CHRISTIANIA, NORWAY.

STOWING AND LAUNCHING OF SHIPS BOATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 650,471, dated May 29, 1900. Application filed. December 30, 1399. Serial No. 742,146. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL GEORGE MAR- TENS, a subject of the King of Sweden and Norway, and a resident of Christiania, Norway, but at present residing at 12 Montague Place, RussellSquare,L0ndon,England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements Relating to the Construction, Stowing, andLaunching of Ships Boats; and Idohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to the construction, stowing, and launching of shipsboats,whereby they can be rapidly and easily launched bows on at either side of the vessel, as desired, or at the stern or bows of the vessel.

Each boat is carried on a movable beam arranged either athwarthships or fore and aft, according to whether the boat is in the middle or at the stem or at the bows of the vessel, so that each boat is launched from its movable beam bows on over the sides, stern, or bows of the vessel, the boats used being decked in for this purpose.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a'transverse section of aship on an even keel, from which one boat has been launched and another is partly launched. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a boat being launched while the ship is at a list of about twenty degrees. Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the boat fitted on the movable beam and secured to a central bearing. Fig. 4. is a vertical section taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5is an enlarged plan diagram of the mechanism for releasing the beam from the ship. Fig. 6

is a detail view showing a cross-section of the movable beam and the rollers mounted there in, on which the keel of the boat is supported. Fig. 7 isa part transverse and part longitudinal section, and Fig. 8 is a plan of the mechanism for releasing the boat from the movable beam.

The same letters of reference where they occur are used to denote the same or corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawlugs.

A is a movable beam which is made in two longitudinal parts a and a (see Figs. 4. to 8) and rests on rollers 13 on a central bearing 0,

rigidly secured to some fixed part of the ship,

' preferably to the uppermost or top deck. (See Figs. 1 to 5.) I11 between the two parts a and a. of the movable beam A are mounted grooved friction-rollers D to receive the keel E of the boat F, as shown in Fig. 6. The beam A is held from tilting downward by means of two pivots a a one at each end of the beam A, (see Fig. 3,) and which pivots operated by a hand-Wheel K inside the boat F, said screw J passing through the keel E of the boat to be launched and engaging a nutblock L on the ship, Figs. 3, 4, and 8. This nut-block L is pivoted at i to the fixed central bearing 0, on which the movable beam is supported.

Every movable beam is fitted with a spring M on each side, as shown in Fig. 5. As all these springs M are alike in construction and in mode of operation, a description of one and its connections will suffice for all. end of the spring M is connected 3. short bar m, in which is mounted an antifriction-roller m. The bar on is also provided with a slot or keeper for the reception of a trigger-bolt O. A chain or other flexible connection 0', which passes over suitable guide-pulleys 0 from the bridge 0 or other convenient part of the vessel, is bifurcated at 0 One end of the bifurcated chain 0 is connected to the trigger-bolt O at one end of the spring, and the other end of chain 0 is connected to another trigger-bolt 0 which latter keeps the beam-chain O in position over the roller m in the bar m at the other end of the same spring. The end of the beam-chain O terminates in an eye 0 through which the trigger-bolt 0 passes and from which it is withdrawn by a pull on the chain 0. The trigger-bolt O is held in proper position by two side bearings 0 secured to the deck or other fixed part. The chain 0 passes around a fixedpulley O on the deck and is connected To each to a collar N, fast on the beam A. A similar ple, that on the starboard side of the ship-thestarboard trigger-bolt Q will be released or drawn from its keeper, thus freeing the starboard end of the spring M, and at the same time the trigger-bolt O at the port side, keep ing the beam-chain 0, will be also released or withdrawn. The starboard beam-chain 0 will then be free,permitting the movable beam A to move to the starboard side over the rollers B on the fixed central bearing C.

The beam A is prevented from moving by reasonof the keel E being locked by the screw J to the block L, pivoted on the fixed central bearing C. When the trigger-bolts O and O and screw J are released or withdrawn from their keepers, the beam A will move longitudinally to one end. The pivot a or a at the other end leaves its slotted bearing g in the swinging stanchion G, and the forward end of the beam A will slope downward, providing an inclined way along which the boat will be launched head foremost into the water. When the beam strikes the taffrail, the spring-chains O are automatically released in any well-known manner from the beam, which then drops into the water.

To prevent the boat F from leaving the movable beam A before the latter has moved sufficiently in the longitudinal direction, triggerbolts W (see Figs. 7 and 8) are provided on each side. Each trigger-bolt W is pivoted on the beam A, so as to engage in a hole in the keel of the boat, as shown in Fig. 7. This trigger-bolt W is normally held in the locked position shown in Fig. 7 by means of a springarm Y, pivoted on the beam A, and by its spring Z, normally held on the upper face of the horizontal part of the trigger-bolt W. This spring-arm Y is pivoted on or to the inner side edge of one of the parts a or a of the beam and bridges the space between said parts, the free end of said arm partly overlapping the other of the two parts a and a of the beam. The arm Y is turned back to the dotted position shown in Fig. 8 against the power of the spring Zwhen the beam has moved forward sufficiently to bring the arm Y thereon against the fixed central bearing 0. Being too large to pass through said bearing C, the arm Y is turned back, whereupon the arm W of the trigger-bolt W is free, and the said triggerbolt W turns in the direction of travel of the beam A and the boat F passes over said trigger-bolt W, and thus disengages itself from the beam. This spring-arm and trigger-bolt mechanism is duplicated on each side of the central transverse line of the boat, as shown in It willv therefore be seen that 7 Figs. 7 and 8, to-allow the boat to be-launched either side, the inoperative or forward- (relatively to the direction of travel in launching) trigger W offering no opposition to the boat being disengaged therefrom. The movable beamA has in eachend in the lower part a slot P, permitting it if pressed at the other end by the weight of the boat F to slip off over the central rollers B,-overwhich it rolls out, and thereby is entirely disengaged from the --Sh-i-p H and falls into the water.

The boat is preferably provided with an external side ledge or fender Q, which is supported at about the center on fixed guides R, secured to the ship H and having curved upper extremities r 0", serving to keep the boat upright while launching. (See Figs. 1 and 2.) These curved ways 1' T have an angle 13 therein to prevent a partiallyrreleased boat from traveling back to its original position by the rolling of the ship. The ledge or fender Q is fitted with a horizontal friction-roller S in each side, which engage in grooves r in the curved ways 1" 4'. When these friction-rollers S are unpinned and the screw J released, the boat will launch itself by the heeling of the ship.

The movable beam A rolls on the central rollers B and passes over the taft'rail or other part of the vessel and over the ships side, stern, or bows.

The boats being decked in are provided with suitable means for propelling same,preferably by pedal mechanism operating a propeller. The boats are also provided with a hatchway T, having a water-tight hatch U, through whicha lookout can be kept andfrom which the steering is preferably effected.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isa 1. For stowing and launching ships boats, a movable beam having grooved antifrictionrollers to support the keel of the boat and mounted centrally between curved ways,fixed to the ship, for supporting the boat by a ledge or fender on its sides, and means for displacing said beam longitudinally between said curved ways, substantially as described.

. 2. For stowing and launching ships boats, a movable beam having grooved antifrictionrollers to support the keel of the boat and mounted centrally between curved ways,fixed to the ship, for supporting the boat by a ledge or fender on its sides, a bearing secured to the ship carrying antifriction-rollers on which the said movable beam is supported, and means for displacing said beam longitudi nally between said curved ways, substantially as described.

a movable beam having grooved antifrictionrollers to support the keel of the boat and mounted centrally between curved ways,fixed to the ship, for supporting the boat by a-ledge or fender on its sides, a bearing secured to the ship carrying antifriction-rollers on which 3. For stowing and launching ships boats,

ICC

the said movable beam is supported, and collars on said beam connected to spring mechanism for moving the beam longitudinally between said curved ways, substantiallyas described.

4. For stowing and launching ships boats, a movable beam having grooved antifrictionrollers to support the keel of the boat and mounted centrally between curved ways,fixed to the ship, for supporting the boat by a ledge or fender on its sides, a bearing secured to the ship carrying antifriction-rollers on which the said movable beam is supported, collars on said beam connected to spring mechanism for moving the beam longitudinally between said curved ways, and trigger mechanism for releasing said springs, substantially as described.

5. In a boat stowed on a launching movable beam, a screw passing through the keel In testimony whereof I affix my signature 3 5 in presence of two witnesses.

DANIEL GEORGE MARTENS. Witnesses:

F. W. GoLBY, FRED O. HARRIS. 

